1729 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 1729 in science
and technology
involved some significant events.
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
and technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
involved some significant events.
Astronomy
- January 9 & 16 - James BradleyJames BradleyJames Bradley FRS was an English astronomer and served as Astronomer Royal from 1742, succeeding Edmund Halley. He is best known for two fundamental discoveries in astronomy, the aberration of light , and the nutation of the Earth's axis...
, in a letter written to Edmond HalleyEdmond HalleyEdmond Halley FRS was an English astronomer, geophysicist, mathematician, meteorologist, and physicist who is best known for computing the orbit of the eponymous Halley's Comet. He was the second Astronomer Royal in Britain, following in the footsteps of John Flamsteed.-Biography and career:Halley...
and read before the Royal SocietyRoyal SocietyThe Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
, describes his discovery of aberration of starlight. - August 1 - Fr. Nicolas Sarabat, a professor of mathematics at Marseilles, discovers the Comet of 1729, possibly the largest comet, with the highest apparent magnitudeApparent magnitudeThe apparent magnitude of a celestial body is a measure of its brightness as seen by an observer on Earth, adjusted to the value it would have in the absence of the atmosphere...
, on record. - English opticianOpticianAn optician is a person who is trained to fill prescriptions for eye correction in the field of medicine, also known as a dispensing optician or optician, dispensing...
Chester Moor Hall (17031703 in scienceThe year 1703 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Biology:* Charles Plumier's Nova plantarum Americanarum genera is published in Paris...
-17711771 in scienceThe year 1771 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Events:* Society of Civil Engineers first meets , the world's oldest engineering society.-Exploration:...
) develops an achromatic lensAchromatic lensAn achromatic lens or achromat is a lens that is designed to limit the effects of chromatic and spherical aberration. Achromatic lenses are corrected to bring two wavelengths into focus in the same plane....
(or achromat) commonly used as the objective of small refractor telescopeTelescopeA telescope is an instrument that aids in the observation of remote objects by collecting electromagnetic radiation . The first known practical telescopes were invented in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 1600s , using glass lenses...
s.
Biology
- Mark CatesbyMark CatesbyMark Catesby was an English naturalist. Between 1731 and 1743 Catesby published his Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands, the first published account of the flora and fauna of North America...
begins part publication in LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
of The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands, containing the figures of birds, beasts, fishes, serpents, insects, and plants ... together with their descriptions in English and French, the first published account of the flora and fauna of North AmericaNorth AmericaNorth America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, and the first work of natural historyNatural historyNatural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
to use folioFolioFolio may refer to:* Folio , a book size* A particular edition of a book printed on folio pages, such as the First Folio of William Shakespeare's plays* A leaf of a book: see Recto and verso* Folio , a sans-serif typeface...
-size coloured plates.
Mathematics
- Andrew Motte publishes The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy in London, the first EnglishEnglish languageEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
translation of Isaac NewtonIsaac NewtonSir Isaac Newton PRS was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian, who has been "considered by many to be the greatest and most influential scientist who ever lived."...
's Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (originally published 16871687 in scienceThe year 1687 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Astronomy:* The constellation Triangulum Minus is named by Johannes Hevelius.-Physics:...
; Motte translated the 1726 edition).
Physics
- Stephen GrayStephen Gray (scientist)Stephen Gray was an English dyer and amateur astronomer, who was the first to systematically experiment with electrical conduction, rather than simple generation of static charges and investigations of the static phenomena....
discovers electrical conduction. - Pierre BouguerPierre BouguerPierre Bouguer was a French mathematician, geophysicist, geodesist, and astronomer. He is also known as "the father of naval architecture"....
publishes Essai d'optique sur la gradation de la lumière, defining the quantity of light lost by passing through a given extent of the earth's atmosphereEarth's atmosphereThe atmosphere of Earth is a layer of gases surrounding the planet Earth that is retained by Earth's gravity. The atmosphere protects life on Earth by absorbing ultraviolet solar radiation, warming the surface through heat retention , and reducing temperature extremes between day and night...
, thus making some of the earliest measurements in photometryPhotometry (optics)Photometry is the science of the measurement of light, in terms of its perceived brightness to the human eye. It is distinct from radiometry, which is the science of measurement of radiant energy in terms of absolute power; rather, in photometry, the radiant power at each wavelength is weighted by...
and becoming the first known discoverer of what is now known as the Beer-Lambert lawBeer-Lambert lawIn optics, the Beer–Lambert law, also known as Beer's law or the Lambert–Beer law or the Beer–Lambert–Bouguer law relates the absorption of light to the properties of the material through which the light is travelling.-Equations:The law states that there is a logarithmic dependence between the...
.
Births
- January 12 - Lazzaro SpallanzaniLazzaro SpallanzaniLazzaro Spallanzani was an Italian Catholic priest, biologist and physiologist who made important contributions to the experimental study of bodily functions, animal reproduction, and essentially discovered echolocation...
, ItalianItalian peopleThe Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
biologistBiologistA biologist is a scientist devoted to and producing results in biology through the study of life. Typically biologists study organisms and their relationship to their environment. Biologists involved in basic research attempt to discover underlying mechanisms that govern how organisms work...
(died 17991799 in scienceThe year 1799 in science and technology involved many significant events, listed below.-Archaeology:* July 15 - In the Egyptian port city of Rosetta , French Captain Pierre Bouchard finds the Rosetta Stone, which will become the key to deciphering ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic writing.* July 25 -...
) - January 31 - Pehr LöflingPehr LöflingPehr Löfling was a Swedish botanist and an apostle of Carl Linnaeus.-Biography:Löfling was born in Tolvfors Bruk, Gävle , Sweden. He studied at the University of Uppsala where he attended courses taught by Carolus Linnaeus...
, SwedishSwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
LinnaeanCarolus LinnaeusCarl Linnaeus , also known after his ennoblement as , was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology...
botanist (died 17561756 in scienceThe year 1756 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Chemistry:* Joseph Black describes how carbonates become more alkaline when they lose carbon dioxide, whereas the taking-up of carbon dioxide reconverts them....
) - November 11 - Louis Antoine de BougainvilleLouis Antoine de BougainvilleLouis-Antoine, Comte de Bougainville was a French admiral and explorer. A contemporary of James Cook, he took part in the French and Indian War and the unsuccessful French attempt to defend Canada from Britain...
, FrenchFrench peopleThe French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
explorer (died 18111811 in scienceThe year 1811 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Biology:* Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger publishes Prodromus systematis mammalium et avium, an updating of Linnean taxonomy and a major influence on the concept of the 'Family' in biology...
)
Deaths
- January 31 - Jakob RoggeveenJakob RoggeveenJacob Roggeveen was a Dutch explorer who was sent to find Terra Australis, but he instead came across Easter Island...
, Dutch explorer (born 16591659 in scienceThe year 1659 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Astronomy:* Christiaan Huygens publishes Systema Saturnium, including the first illustration of the Orion Nebula.-Births:...
) - March 2 - Francesco BianchiniFrancesco BianchiniFrancesco Bianchini was an Italian philosopher and scientist. He worked for the curia of three popes, including being camiere d`honore of Clement XI, and secretary of the commission for the reform of the calendar, working on the method to calculate the astronomically correct date for Easter in a...
, Italian philosopher and scientist (born 16621662 in scienceThe year 1662 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Botany:* February 16 - John Evelyn presents the basic text of his Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-Trees and the Propagation of Timber to the College for the Promoting of Physico-Mathematical Experimental Learning, probably...
) - August 5 - Thomas NewcomenThomas NewcomenThomas Newcomen was an ironmonger by trade and a Baptist lay preacher by calling. He was born in Dartmouth, Devon, England, near a part of the country noted for its tin mines. Flooding was a major problem, limiting the depth at which the mineral could be mined...
, English inventor (born 16641664 in scienceThe year 1664 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Mathematics:* January 18 - Isaac Barrow is appointed first Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge....
) - December 1 - Giacomo F. MaraldiGiacomo F. MaraldiGiacomo Filippo Maraldi was an French-Italian astronomer and mathematician. His name is also given as Jacques Philippe Maraldi....
, French-Italian astronomer (born 16651665 in scienceThe year 1665 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Cartography:* Publication of the 'Atlas Maior' completed by Joan Blaeu in Amsterdam.-Medicine:...
)